26.02.24: talking about friends and family members; mihi est / mihi sunt; conjunctions et, sed, vel

26.02.24: talking about friends and family members; mihi est / mihi sunt; conjunctions et, sed, vel

Estne tibi fīlius? Do you have a son?

Estne tibi fīlia? Do you have a daughter?

Suntne tibi līberī? [literally: Are there children to you?] = Do you have children? Careful! Don't confuse līberī (children) with librī (books)!

Mihi est ūnus fīlius. [literally: To me there IS one son.] = I have one son.

Mihi sunt duo fīliī. [literally: To me there ARE two sons.] = I have two sons.

Mihi est ūnus amīcus.

Mihi sunt duo amīcī.

Mihi sunt MULTĪ amīcī! I have many friends. [multī: many; when referring to males]

Mihi est ūna fīlia.

Mihi sunt duae fīliae.

Mihi est ūna amīca.

Mihi sunt duae amīcae.

Mihi sunt MULTAE amīcae! I have many friends. [multae: many; when referring to females]

And, for the sake of completeness, two more, but these two are not first or second declension nouns and form their plural in a different way which we will deal with later. However, since talking about friends and family very often includes brothers and sisters:

Suntne tibi frātrēs VEL sorōrēs? Do you have brothers OR sisters?

Mihi est ūnus frāter: I have one brother

Mihi sunt duo frātrēs: I have two brothers

Mihi est ūna soror: I have one sister

Mihi sunt duae sorōrēs: I have two sisters

Mihi sunt unus frāter ET duae sorōrēs: I have one brother AND two sisters.

Mihi sunt duo frātrēs SED mihi nōn est soror: I have two brothers BUT I don't have a sister.

Note: conjunctions (words used to join words or phrases in a sentence)

et: and

sed: but

vel: or

And if you have no brothers and sisters:

Fīlius ūnicus sum: I'm an only son.

Fīlia ūnica sum: I'm an only daughter